Receivers Johnson, Humphrey could be key to Longhorns’ offensive revival

Texas Longhorns wide receiver Collin Johnson (9) points after catching a pass for a first down during The Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl between against Missouri at NRG Stadium on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle ) less

Texas Longhorns wide receiver Collin Johnson (9) points after catching a pass for a first down during The Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl between against Missouri at NRG Stadium on Wednesday, Dec. 27, ... more

Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Chronicle / Houston Chronicle

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Texas wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey (84) leaps out of the grasp of Texas Longhorns defensive back Brandon Jones (19) during the team's Orange-White intrasquad spring college football game, Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) less

Texas wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey (84) leaps out of the grasp of Texas Longhorns defensive back Brandon Jones (19) during the team's Orange-White intrasquad spring college football game, Saturday, April ... more

Photo: Eric Gay, STF / Associated Press

Receivers Johnson, Humphrey could be key to Longhorns’ offensive revival

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AUSTIN — One stands 6-foot-6, the other 6-4. The former weighs 215 pounds, the latter a sinewy 220. The duo’s blend of size, power, and athleticism rouses offensive coordinators and stokes unease in their defensive counterparts.

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Together, Texas juniors Collin Johnson and Lil’Jordan Humphrey possess as much upside as any pair of receivers in the Big 12 outside of West Virginia. Their play indicated that much Saturday during UT’s Orange-White spring game at Royal-Memorial Stadium. The taller Johnson looked unmanageable in single-man coverage, and Humphrey demonstrated his rare versatility with two rushing touchdowns from inside the 3-yard-line.

It’s fair to question any results culled from an intrasquad scrimmage featuring vanilla play-calling. After all, Johnson followed last year’s dominant spring outing with a wildly inconsistent regular-season performance. He amassed 53 percent of his 765 total receiving yards against Maryland, Southern Cal and Kansas State, and averaged a hair under 40 yards in nine other contests.

Johnson was even replaced atop the depth chart by Dorian Leonard for the middle portion of UT’s Big 12 schedule. Though he finished as the team’s leader in receptions (54) and receiving yards, his second go-around in burnt orange didn’t meet preseason expectations.

“I had really high expectations for both myself and the people in the receivers room,” Johnson said. “It was hard. But in football, things don’t always go the way you have planned.

“But the way we responded after this season, coming into the offseason with the right mindset, taking the appropriate steps, we’ve been doing a great job. That’s all we can do, we can’t worry about that past.”

Inconsistent quarterback play could prevent a true breakout in 2018, but the onus remains on Johnson to end the Jekyl-and-Hyde act and use his advantages to attack and exploit mismatches. If he ends up drawing double teams, so much the better for Humphrey, Devin Duvernay and rest of UT’s receivers.

“What does Collin do as good as anybody in the country, it’s defeat one-on-one coverage and go big body a guy on a deep ball and catch a slant route because he throws a guy by or whatever the case may be,” coach Tom Herman said. “What he’s great at is one-on-one coverage.”

Humphrey is the more intriguing of the two, a Swiss Army knife-type who can line up all over the field. The former all-state running back is just as comfortable running routes as he is taking handoffs or tosses out of the backfield and, he’s got a fine arm to boot.

He finished the spring game with seven receptions for 100 yards and added 14 yards on four carries. Larger than any defensive back and clearly unafraid of contact, Humphrey excelled flashing across the middle and snagging passes above UT’s secondary.

“A difference maker, without a doubt,” Herman said. “LJ’s about as versatile an offensive skill player as I’ve ever been around. He can play outside. He can play in the slot. He can carry the football. He’s got unbelievable ball skills. Really, really football smart, and really proud of his development.”

UT linebacker Malcolm Roach said Humphrey is “causing problems all the time” in practice.

“He’s a matchup nightmare. His versatility is so good for us. He can play running back, quarterback, slot receiver, outside receiver, we might need to put him at outside linebacker” Roach said, only half joking. “He’s always a problem.”

Just over four months from now, Humphrey and Johnson get a chance to become the rest of the college football world’s problem. Their ability to live up to the hype will have an outsize bearing on how UT fares in year two under Herman.

“We came a long way,” Johnson said, “and we’re just going to keep building off of what we have now.”